Qur'an submerged in lard mailed to Islamic center in California

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An investigation has been launched into the mailing of a Qur’an, which was submerged in a tub of what appeared to be pork lard, to a Northern California Islamic center.

Although Sacramento police are investigating the case as a “hate activity,” they will not file charges because they say the activity does not rise to a criminal level, according to Officer Linda Matthew.

“It’s deplorable behavior by someone to do something like this, and it’s very disrespectful to their religion. But yet there’s no specific crime that’s attached to it,” Matthew said. “We’re monitoring these types of instances and taking them very seriously.”

The Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations received the package in June delivered by a white woman from a shipping center in Houston, she said.

The incident is yet another type of hate crime incidents happening across the county, said Katelyn Costa, the programs and administrative coordinator at the CAIR Sacramento chapter.

“We’re more disappointed that people aren’t taking the time to learn and understand,” she said.

In similar incidents, two local Islamic centers discovered destroyed remnants of Qur’ans outside of their mosques in June.

The incidents occurred outside the Masjid Annur Islamic Center in Sacramento and the Islamic Center of Davis.

The Islamic Center of Davis in California

A singed Qur’an filled with bacon was found handcuffed to a fence at the Masjid Annur Islamic Center. In a separate incident, someone, who was driving by in a car, threw pages torn out of a Qur’an into the Islamic Center of Davis during night prayers.

Also in January, a woman broke the windows of the mosque and left bacon strips on the entrance handles.

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On May 9, CAIR said in a report that the number of anti-Muslim bias incidents in the US saw a 57% rise in 2016, attributing it, in part, to Donald Trump’s rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants during his presidential campaign in 2016.

Before winning the election, Trump had promised to impose a “complete and total shutdown” on Muslims entering the US, framing it as an effort to prevent attacks in the country.